legality of website profiling our city's bureaucrats. (Savannah: appointed, credit)

[Guenon]

would i be in danger of a defamation lawsuit if i built a website profiling individuals in our city's inept bureaucracy?
if i just post a photo of a person...let's say..hmmm...zoning commissioner Randolph Scott and allowed registered users to comment on their experiences with him either positive, negative or just down right sleazy, would i be in danger of libel?

[pink caddy]

not until you libeled him....which from the nature of your posting is your intent.

[Guenon]

i actually don't plan on commenting myself. just providing a forum or wiki, where others can share their experiences with appointees of appointed city officials.
i regularly come across people who are having similar problems with savannah zoning administration and other offices who seem to want to do nothing but block community events or small businesses. yet, when some event does take place and it turns out to be successful, those same people who tried to block it go out and try to take credit for it. our mayor for example tried to take credit for putting together an event that the city had nothing to do with other than making it very difficult to get up and running.
and i've heard some very news worthy stories.
so i'm thinking of making a series of pages profiles individual officials, maybe using their picture, and then leaving it up to visitors to the site to tell their stories below. maybe give a star rating, etc. would be a great resource to educate the public prior to elections and for those trying to get things done in this town to know what to expect.
just wondering if this is something that would lead to problems.

[Padgett2]

You would have no control over what people posted. Nor would you have anyway of knowing if it were true or not.

Anyone can haul you into court if they want to go to the trouble. Right or wrong, it would be your problem to contest the suit. Is this what you want to do?

If you posted pictures, profiles, etc. It seems to me that you would be aiding those people that really don't have a gripe, but just want to cause trouble.

You might never have a problem, but I think you certainly would be opening a possible can of worms.

[WanderingImport]

I think the bottom line is that Savannahians need to be better educated when it comes to their political leaders and the ones that are in office now need to get the heck outta there, pronto!

[pink caddy]

^^^^Yep. And the right way to go about it is with facts and substaniation.. Their pictures btw are already on the internet. If one wants to be proactive....just do it and post/blog your rants, concerns, action you would like to see, etc.

You need to take the lead.(op)